Find out what at you need to do to prepare for the XR-29 Standard for CT Equipment and how it has the potential to bring down CT reimbursement; from the leader in healthcare supply chain management solutions, MD Buyline. For the full article, visit http://www.mdbuyline.com/blog/nema-xr-29-can-lower-ct-reimbursement/.

1. NEMA XR-29Can Lower Your
CT Reimbursement:
Learn About XR-29

2. Radiation safety continues to be a major issue in
today’s healthcare environment with
organizations like the American College of
Radiology (ACR) and the National Equipment
Manufacturers Association (NEMA) focused on
promoting the adoption of radiation dose
standards to improve patient safety.

3. This includes NEMA XR-29, also known as Smart
dose, set forward by the Medical Imaging and
Technology Alliance (MITA), a division of NEMA.
While it addresses four major standards for CT
dose optimization it also has the potential to bring
down reimbursement, as much at 15% for CT
scanners that don’t meet the standards set forward
by XR-29.

4. Preceded by XR-25, XR-26 and XR-27 dose-
related standards, XR-29 focuses on improving
radiation dose management as well as obtaining
high-quality images at the lowest possible dose in
medical imaging.
It consists of four major standards as outlined by
NEMA (shown on next slides).

5. Four major standards as outlined by NEMA:
DICOM SR
This is the Radiation Dose Structured Report,
which enables recording of post-exam dose
information in a standardized electronic
format. This information can be included in
the patient record, promoting the
establishment of diagnostic reference levels,
as well as facility dose management and
quality assurance.

6. CT Dose Check
This incorporates two features—dose
notifications and dose alerts—that warn
operators and physicians when dose exceeds
established thresholds.

7. Automatic Exposure Control (AEC)
This automatically adjusts the amount of
radiation within prescribed bounds as
needed to achieve the desired image quality.
Studies of AEC procedures have
demonstrated dose reductions when used
properly.

8. Radiation Dose Protocols
This is a set of pre-loaded parameters on a
CT system that can be selected by the
operator to complete a particular clinical
task, such as capturing an image of the
abdomen.

9. The XR-29 standards offer a path to further
improve radiation dose optimization and
management on all ionizing emitting
equipment, not just CT.
However, in an era of declining reimbursement,
not just with CT, but within radiology/cardiology
as well NEMA XR-29 has the potential to bring
down reimbursement even further.

10. According to CMS, if a CT scanner is not XR-29
compliant by January 2016 reimbursement will be
reduced by 5%. This number jumps to 15% if a CT
scanner does not meet XR-29 standards
by January 2017.
For older CT scanners that are unable to use the
most recent generation of dose reduction packages
from CT vendors, products offered by Sapheneia,
Radimetrics and Atlantis Worldwide should enable
use of older CTs with lower radiation dose
protocols to meet XR-29 requirements.

11. At MD Buyline, we have seen XR-29 in action and
practice on the CT and PET/CT quotes sent in for
analysis for quite some time.
For those interested in learning about XR-29, a
copy is available for purchase through
global.ihs.com for $51.00. Additionally, the
webinar “Preparing for the XR-29 Standard for CT
Equipment” is available through Siemens Medical
Solutions and outlines specific plans on how they
are assisting their customers.

12. MD Buyline encourages all of the CT vendors to
send us their plans on how they are preparing for
to address the XR-29 standard for their portfolio
of CT scanners so that we can share this with MD
Buyline members.